Introduction to Plastics

Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Elias was born in 1928. He studied at the Technical University of Hanover, Germany, and received his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Munich in 1957. After habilitation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) in 1961, he was appointed Senior Lecturer and later a professor of organic-chemical technology. In 1971, he became founding president of and professor of Polymer Science at the Michigan Molecular Institute (MMI) in Midland, Michigan. During these years, he also worked as consultant to the polymer industry in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States and expert witness to companies and the court. He was an in-house consultant at the Dow Chemical Co., Midland (MI) (1983/84) and independent consultant between 1985 and 1993. He continues to teach at MMI. Professor Elias has published more than 200 scientific and technical papers and two patents on the synthesis characterization, structure, properties, and application of synthetic and biological polymers. His ten authored or edited books have been published in English, French, German, and/or Russian, one of these, a 4-volume work, in six invitation in fifteen countries and was a member of editorial boards of five polymer journals.

• INTRODUCTIONPolymersPlasticsHistory of PlasticsEconomic ImportanceMOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF POLYMERSConstitutionMolar Masses and Molar Mass DistributionsConfigurationsConformationsPOLYMER MANUFACTURERaw MaterialsPolymer Syntheses: OverviewChain Polymerizations and PolyeliminationsPolycondensations and PolyadditionsPolymer ReactionsPLASTICS MANUFACTUREHomogenization and CompoundingAdditivesProcessingSUPERMOLECULAR STRUCTURESNoncrystalline StatesPolymer CrystalsMesophasesGelsThermal PropertiesRheological PropertiesMechanical PropertiesElectrical PropertiesOptical PropertiesPolymer CompositesWaste Disposal

"This book presents a precise, yet non-mathematical introduction to plastics, their raw materials, syntheses, properties and applications."-Revue de l'Institut Francais du Petrole "The volume is excellently written, with a simple, straightforward and comprehensive index. It provides an overview of all plastics, including raw materials: manufacture, structure, processing, properties and, of course, applications."-Polymer International "This book has all the earmarks of becoming a guide to or even a reference book for polymers in structural applications."-Acta Polymerica"For somebody teaching polymer science to chemists as well as to engineers, this book is an extremely valuable addition to the bookshelf. Similarly, if you are a chemist and you are confronted with the materials aspects - processing as well as properties - so that you have to interact with the engineers, this book will help you to understand and to solve the problems that arise. However, it is especially students studying chemical and process engineering and coming to the polymer materials part of the course who will be attracted by the comprehensive contents of this introduction to plastics!In summary, "An Introduction to Plastics" is an excellent and fairly comprehensive, but nevertheless compact, textbook. It can be recommended for engineers and materials scientists in academia, and especially in industry, who have to deal with the material properties and processing aspects of polymers."-Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2005, Vol. 44, No. 6